Experts are full of valuable knowledge and are ready to help with any question. Credentials confirmed by a Fortune 500 verification firm.

Get a Professional Answer

Via email, text message, or notification as you wait on our site.Ask follow up questions if you need to.

100% Satisfaction Guarantee

Rate the answer you receive.

Ask Drhollowayvet Your Own Question

Drhollowayvet,

Category: Dog Veterinary

Satisfied Customers: 755

Experience: Relief Veterinarian at Aloha Animal Hospital

92209471

Type Your Dog Veterinary Question Here...

Drhollowayvet is online now

My 6 pound Yorker mix, Molly, will not eat anything. Not

Customer Question

Hi. My 6 pound Yorker mix, Molly, will not eat anything. Not even the chicken that I offered her. She is drinking water fine but is doing a lot of stretching. Been going on for the last 3 days. Super finicky eater at best of times. Did this a couple months ago and after blood work and X-rays couldn't find anything wrong. She's so tiny already I worry about weight loss. Any thoughts?

I am sorry to hear about your pets recent lack of appetite which seems to be an ongoing problem for Molly. Small toy breeds are notorious picky eaters which can make diagnosis of internal illness a challenge when we can't differentiate the two. My name is***** and I will do my very best to help her and also give you my expert opinion on what should be done for her overall care and well-being. I do have a couple of additional questions to ask you about Molly however so that I can give you the best advice here. 1) Previous blood-work and x-rays couldn't find anything wrong I understand. So what eventually made her feel better? 2) What was Molly eating before she got sick? Any people food? 3) It seems that she may be stretching because of a painful belly, does she seem painful when you palpate her belly? 4) How is Molly's energy level? Is she noticeably lethargic? - Dr. H

1. Molly just starting eating again on her own.2. Molly only eats people food. Chicken or hamburger and rice with chopped green beans, carrots or apples. Won't touch dog food. Drank a little milk tonight. Acts like she's trying to bury her food with her nose.3. Belly does not seem painful to the touch. Seems to enjoy having it rubbed.4. Molly seems a bit lethargic. She's never a terribly energetic dog. Nose is still moist and cool. Has been playing with her squirrel a little bit.

Ok sounds like Molly has pretty pretty persistent food aversion. Which is pretty unusual if she is getting people food which seems like she prefers over dog food.My thoughts are that she may have a mild gastritis (inflamed stomach), or internal organ malfunction such as kidney or pancreas upset( due to a predominant people food diet). 3 days duration is a little long for my comfort and if this were going to resolve itself with conservative treatment I wouldn't have expected her symptoms to last this long. It would be best for her to visit A vet at this stage to run some bloodwork on her again because repeats bouts of inappetance with mild lethargy is a red flag for internal illness. If I were her vet at this stage I would make sure to run a cPl snap test to rule out pancreatitis and if her symptoms don't improve with medical treatment (antibiotics, probiotics and bland diet) then more advanced testing may be warranted.But my thoughts are if she isn't a) Sniffing the food and showing at least interest b) Still begging for other foods at the table c) Still as active as she always is, then an underlying problem is there it just hasn't been found yet. But with just inappetance as a symptom I don't have much else to go on without having examined her myself.For tonight I would recommend perhaps Pedialyte (non-flavored) to provide electrolyte support and you can try to giving her some Pediasure or Ensure using a syringe or turkey baster to try and get some nutrition in here until you can get her rechecked by your veterinarian.Please feel free to reply with any additional questions or comments about the recommendations above and I will be happy to continue the conversation.If you are satisfied with my answer then please don't forget to leave me a rating as this is how I am credited with assisting you and your pet concerns today. Thank you.- Best regardsDr. H

Also here are 2 websites to utilize that offer free home-made recipes for dogs to use for variety in Molly's diet. https://secure.balanceit.com/https://www.petdiets.com/ This will surely help in the future to find things that Molly likes and add more variety to her meals. - Dr. H